We Survied the Boat!

Hey,

Well we moved on from the very uneventful town of Mission Beach! The hostel was in the middle of no where, we had to walk about 5 miles to get water, I felt like a little African lady in the middle of the desert with a turban on her head and a vase full of water on top of it! We decided not to stop in Townsville/Magnetic Island on the way down from fear of more disappointment and quite frankly, I’ve had enough of all the islands! So we went straight to Airlie Beach.

Airlie beach was nice, much nicer than mission beach. Just a strip of bars, restaurants and hostels with a little lagoon in the middle (the name is misleading, there is inf act no beach, just the man-made lagoon). We sat by the lagoon and did a bit of sunbathing, I soon got bored and went for walks, trying to find a stetson like Miss Beckhams, but failing miserably! We stayed in a lovely little hostel a bit further out of the main bit called Bush Village, we stayed there for 4 days before heading off to the Whitsunday’s.

We were told to pack light, so I took 3 t-shirts, 2 pairs of three-quarter lengths, pair of swimming trunks, a beach towel, a back-up towel, sun cream, 2 books, a pair of sunglasses, a pair of shoes, ipod and a man and his poodle. We sat waiting at the terminal thingy for all the people to arrive so we could get on, then the guy who was organising everything came up to us and said 'another 10 minutes, a bit of confusion'. I thought well they've lost our boat, what a shame, I don’t have to put myself through sea-sickness willingly! They hadn't and we boarded. The ship was actually lovely(the Derwent Hunter). We chose an older style boat, and not just a party one - I didn’t really want to be at sea with a load of 18 year olds desperate to loose their virginity!

The first day was a bit like mini job interviews with the rest of the people (only 16 of us, including a lovely family) but that soon passed and we all got talking. We were told by the host that next we would be shown our cabins and then how to work the toilet and shower system at which point me and Lee looked at each other and nearly dived over-board to swim back to a good old sewage system! Our cabin was very small and it shared a toilet and bathroom with the next room - we each had a door into the bathroom which proved interested coz we had to remember to unlock their door after being in there! The toilet training was very interesting to say the least! Basically, to cut a long story short, you had to pump your own poo-poo and wee out of the boat! Obviously I needed the toilet soon after, and obviously it was a number 2, so I went and then opened the door to show Lee me pumping my own breakfast out the toilet - it was hysterical! The first night I couldn’t sleep, the boat was rocking too much, and I thought Lee would roll on to me from his miniscule top bunk ( I had the double on the bottom obviously - there aint no way I was fitting into the single!!!)

Whitehaven beach was absolutely stunning, clear water and the whitest sand I’ve ever seen! They even got me snorkelling!!! ME! SNORKELLING! It was good actually and I went quite far out... up to my knees! The boat was really relaxing and soon we all got talking. They where such lovely people. A lovely little family - the mum Carlene was a nutter but so funny and kids were soooo well behaved and cute, they live in Brisbane and we are seeing them on Thursday. A few lovely German girls, one we aptly named Corporal Punishment, and another one called Jenny who apparently started shouting in her sleep. A lovely lovely young couple - Stacey and Gary who also live in Brisbane. Stacey is a manager of a hostel here so we are staying there at a reduced rate, so nice of her! The second nights sleep was interesting to say the least! We decided to share the double as Lee couldn’t stand his nose rubbing on the ceiling - that was how low it was! At about 4am, I kicked Lee out of bed screaming 'there’s something in the bed, something just crawled up my arm!'. Lee said I hoped I wasn’t dreaming and I made it clear I wasn’t. Then we looked up, and there was a 3 inch cockroach running up the fucking wall! WELL - obviously we both screamed and ran out the room. We eventually composed ourselves and slowly crept round cockroach (bbbbbbbbbbbbbblerghhhh) hunting for our sheets so we could sleep on deck - which we did. We actually couldn’t stop laughing though and please… all picture me sleeping on the deck of an old ship, in the middle of nowhere, with a piss-stained moth eaten blanket round me! NOT PRETTY!

The rest of the trip was really good. Did some more snorkelling (I think I’m over it now!), saw some more lovely beaches, and made some really good friends. Me and Lee became the story tellers of the ship and most of the time it was like Story Time With Mother. They all sat round us and laughed and laughed at our stories. And there we where thinking we where boring! So with all the pumping of poo poo, the disgusting cockroaches running up my arm, the laughing and the beaches it was a really good trip, definitely a high light of our trip so far!

This is only part one of the email, i will have to put fraser island in another one! But im sure you get the general idea! You'll get part two shortly, but im knackered and have to go change - we are going out tonight to some straight bar - i'll let you all know if i survive the night.

Let me know what’s going on your end.

Much Love,

Si (aka Champagne Backpacker number one!) xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx